Everyday Life

I hope today’s blog post will give you a flavor of what I am experiencing, here in Damongo, Ghana.  It is mainly a compilation of photos for you to enjoy.

One Sunday afternoon, we took a short safari at Mole National Forest – which is a quick 20 minute car ride from Damongo.    Most everyone who visits Mole will pass through Damongo on their way.

We saw 12 elephants – one of which came very close to charging us.  We started following an elephant down the road.  He stopped to eat at a tree.   Suddenly we realized there was a second, much larger elephant, with tusks, following us!  We were sandwiched between two elephants!  The larger one kept coming toward us, ears wagging and he sounded his trumpet.  We ran into the bush, at the guides demand.  The guide had his rifle ready to shoot in to the air to scare the elephant, when the elephant himself, veered off the road into the bush.  We scrambled to our vehicles, having had a very exciting, yet scary few minutes. 

As our safari continued, we saw a number of other elephants.  Three teenage elephants at a water whole, some adult elephants, one taking a dip in the water while two others just having a drink.  We also drove right past an elephant whose hind feet seemed to be a bit stuck in the mud. A second elephant was in the trees coming to his rescue – again, we drove out of there quickly!

At Mole, we also saw various types of monkeys,  antelope, wart hogs, and baboons.

Here are some photos which show what everyday life looks like in and around Damongo.

Road to SAGISS

It is dry and very bumpy and we must go ever so slowly.  What would normally take 2-3 minutes to drive in United States takes us 18 minutes down this road.  Supposedly it is worse in rainy season!  I can imagine getting stuck….  We also meet huge trucks carrying gravel, logs and people – somewhat surprisingly, they are Mercedes Benz.

 Fencing along the road to SAGISS.  The hard work it took to make it is amazing.

Young boys selling chickens on side of road

Sheep walking freely through town

This is Isaac - my faithful phone guy. 

He sells me Vodafone minutes so I can be in touch with family and friends!  His stand is right next to the bank where I get Ghana currency.   He is a very nice 22 year-old young man who is patient with this older, American woman who doesn’t know much about how things work in Ghana – or how phones work in general – right Joe and Paul???!

Street vendor in Damongo selling used shoes.  Huge piles of shoes! 

Father on motorcycle with his three sons.  Common sight seeing either multiple people or large loads on motorcycles. Seeing a baby strapped to his momma’s back while she drives a motorcycle is also common.

Young men hanging out at the petrol station where we were airing our tires before trip to Tamale. 

Three girls at the Tamale market

One side street at Tamale market

SAGISS girl carrying items on head to Dining Hall after cleaning the Teachers lounge one evening after classes.

Goats sitting atop tractor in SAGISS compound

Pigs wandering the SAGISS compound

I hope you enjoyed the photos of everyday life in Damongo!  I am doing fine!  Keep me in your prayers!  God bless you.  The adventure continues……

Getting Settled

It seems surreal to me that it has been only two weeks since I left the United States to travel to Ghana.  I have experienced so much since then.  I am starting to get in to a daily routine; I am starting to get settled in. 

I am laying on my bed, under my mosquito net, which took a few days for me to hang. (Since it is the dry season, the mosquitoes have not been so bad.)  If I think too much about being under the net, I sometimes get almost claustrophobic. On the other hand, it reminds me of those younger days when I would build blanket tents with my young sons - great memories. 

I have begun doing some cooking.  Now that we are in our new home, if we want to eat, we need to cook.  Luckily, I know a couple African dishes. My first dish was rice and peanut sauce.  My second meal was spaghetti. My third meal was rice, red sauce and fried plantains. 

At this point we are mainly eating vegetarian.  Most of our protein is coming from eggs, tuna and groundnuts (peanuts). I still have not gotten past the flies on the meat sitting out in the heat at the market. Meat just is not that attractive to me at this time.  By the way, we have dogs, cats, goats, chickens, guinea fowl and pigs grazing freely throughout the compound.  They seem as afraid of me as I am of them.  We also have had some small lizard/gecko type reptiles visiting us now and then, along with wasps, bees (we have hives in compound) and ants, ants, and more ants.

The girls attended Mass at the Cathedral on Sunday. The bus must take two trips, each time packed to the brim with girls.  They sang songs all the way there. As we passed through the town of Damongo, many heads turned to see who was making the beautiful music. Little children waived at the white woman (me) with curiosity as we passed by.

After Mass,  Karen, Mary (my fellow teacher and next door neighbor volunteering with the Peace Corp.) and I visited a friend of Mary's.  Christine is an American, who has lived in various parts of Ghana for 23 years. We had a wonderful visit, including a meal of juice and pancakes and sausage (I stuck with pancakes).  Christine provided us with insights and some sage advice.   We took a yellow-yellow (motorcycle taxi) home. They are widely used here in Damongo, along with motorcycles.

I officially started my job on Monday.  I am teaching Form 1 Food and Nutrition.  Instead of naming classes Sophomore, Junior and Senior, they are referred to as Form 1, Form 2 and Form 3.  I teach four -  one hour classes per week.  The girls are very sweet and interested in learning more about America and what I think of Ghana. The girls were excited to have their class picture taken to be posted to the United States.  As you can see, the girls have beautiful smiles.

The girls at the school are very eager to help us out.   They like carrying our bags and purses home for us.  Tonight, two Form 2 girls, Hagar and Agnes, walked home with me, carrying my bags.  They taught me how to burn my garbage (at my request), swept my courtyard for me, and did some dishes (not at my request).  They become offended if you turn down their offers to help, so I let them do it.   I treated them to some pineapple and a picture on my blog.

In addition to teaching, I have been assigned to be the school secretary by the Headmistress!  Once she found out I could type, she was very excited.  They have been without a secretary this school year. I will learn more about the running of the school and the Ghanaian education system.  Another perk is that I get my own office!

Tonight Mary invited us to supper as two Peace Corp friends were staying over on their way to Mole National Park. Mole is very close to Damongo.  (I hope to safari there someday soon.)  Mary is from New Mexico, her friends are from New York and Iowa.  They had some great stories to tell.  It was fun to compare their experiences and living environment to ours. 

I have learned I need to have an open mind in order to become fully integrated in to Ghanaian culture.  It will take some time, but I already know this opportunity is a gift from God. I will strive to make the most of my time here to fulfill God's call.

Please keep me in your prayers. 

The adventure continues.....